The follow-up of the United States (US) jobless claims data and the positive durable goods orders data have had a profound effect on the price of gold, which was seen to weaken quite significantly after the data was released.
The data has supported the US dollar to strengthen against gold after giving the yellow metal a boost in the past few days that have seen the world's biggest currency slide.
Now investors are waiting for the US PCE index data to be released tonight which will provide an insight into the US economy to examine the direction of the US dollar currency after this.
On the XAU/USD chart which measures the value of gold against the US dollar, the price made a very aggressive decline yesterday to around the 2655.00 level after reaching its new all-time high (ATH) at 2685.00.
The price rebounded towards the end of the New York session to challenge the new ATH but was unsuccessful and the price hovered slowly around 2670.00 in the Asian session this morning (Friday).
Today's price is seen to be moving in a 'sideway' state before the price drop pattern is displayed in the early trading of the European session.
If the decline continues, 2600.00 is the focus zone for investors if the price tends to move in a bearish trend.
If the price manages to break through 2600.00, some important levels of the past week such as 2530.00, 2500.00 and 2470.00 are likely to be the focus of the price again. Gold prices also have the potential to continue to rise given that there is US PCE data that may give an advantage to the metal with levels 2700.00 placed analysts as a target.
With the pattern that has been displayed in the price of gold throughout this week, investors are not surprised if the latest record high will continue to be created in price.
